Counties

Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

5-71 The Chillicothe Gazette

Side A: The oldest commercial enterprise in Ohio, the Chillicothe Gazette began publication on April 25, 1800, as Freeman’s Journal and Chillicothe Advertiser. That October it became the Scioto Gazette, and Chillicothe has had a Gazette ever since. It is the oldest newspaper in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the second oldest in the United States. Its first publisher and editor, Nathaniel Willis, was a Revolution-era Boston printer who reputedly apprenticed under Benjamin Franklin. Under his leadership the Gazette became one of the most influential papers in the expanding West. It first reported news transmitted by telegraph in 1847 and began daily publication in 1849. The Gazette moved into this building, a replica of Ohio’s first statehouse, in 1941.
Side B: Same
Sponsors: Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, The Chillicothe and Ross County 2003 Commission, The Ross County Historical Society, and The Ohio Historical Society
Address: 50 W. Main Street, 
Chillicothe, 
OH, 
45601
Location: 50 West Main Street
Latitude: 39.3327721
Longitude: -82.9839535